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Prize-winning Keynes article

Article on how Keynes influenced management of US college endowments, authored by Dr David Chambers and Elroy Dimson of Cambridge Judge, wins award from Financial Analysts Journal.

Yale University, where CIO David Swensen’s investment philosophy was influenced by Keynes

An article by David Chambers and Elroy Dimson of Cambridge Judge Business School on how British economist John Maynard Keynes influenced the management of US college endowments was awarded the Graham and Dodd Best Perspectives Award for 2015 by the Financial Analysts Journal.

Dr David Chambers is Reader in Finance and Academic Director of the Newton Centre for Endowment Asset Management at Cambridge Judge, and Professor Elroy Dimson is Research Director (Finance & Accounting) and Chairman of the Newton Centre for Endowment Asset Management.

The article published last year – “The British Origins of the US Endowment Model” – examines how Keynes influenced the investment philosophy of Yale University’s chief investment officer, David Swensen, whose investment policies were later followed by many other US universities.

Keynes from 1921 until his death in 1946 managed the endowment fund of King’s College, Cambridge, diversifying the fund away from real estate and toward stocks – and that diversification strategy involving active management of equity-oriented assets became known as the “Yale model.”

In the article, the authors “track Keynes’ experiences managing the King’s College, Cambridge, endowment and show how some of the lessons he learned remain relevant to endowments and foundations today.”

The award was established by the Financial Analysts Journal in 1960 to recognise excellence in financial writing and to honor economists Benjamin Graham and David L. Dodd for their enduring contributions to the field of financial analysis. The journal is published by the CFA Institute, an organisation that offers the Chartered Financial Analyst designation for finance professionals.